Britain considers lower rural speed limit

British officials are suggesting lowering the speed limit from 60 mph to 40 mph on many rural roads where, they say, most fatal crashes occur. Britain's Department for Transport said the first annual increase in road deaths and serious injuries in 17 years occurred last year with 1,901 people killed, a 3 percent increase from 2010 -- with nearly 68 percent of fatalities on rural roads, The Daily Telegraph reported. Transportation officials said a previous proposal called for having all rural roads lowered to 50 mph, but the current proposal would allow local authorities to designate quiet stretches of roads as 40 mph zones instead of requiring a series of signs, which is expensive and time consuming. Mike Penning, the undersecretary of state for transport, said 40 mph limits should be considered for sections of rural roads where there are many bends, junctions or accesses. Ralph Smyth of the Campaign to Protect Rural England said the group is in support of reducing speeds in the countryside, because since the last speed limit guidance, deaths on rural roads increased from half of all road deaths, to more then two-thirds.